Freedom
By Jennifer McClure | July 3, 2008
This Fourth of July week there is much talk about freedom. Isn’t it interesting the idea of someone dying in order to allow another to be free is embraced regardless of religious creed or ideology?
So our jaws are still dropped after this most recent gas hike — well at least mine is. Aren’t you glad the “terms of salvation” are constant, never changing based on need and demand?
Topics: Random Ramblings | No Comments »
Celebrating the Gift of Life
By Jennifer McClure | June 20, 2008
Within the last three weeks, I’ve known a baby to be born, a niece to graduate from high school, family members to add a year to their age, and a beloved former high school English teacher to pass away after a hard battle with cancer. Thanks to the common bound of Christianity, though, even the funeral was a celebration of life — of the one she lived and the one she is now experiencing.
As Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us, there is a time for every season of life. [And of course it’s hard not to think of the song “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To everything there is a season).”] These events also remind me of how precious life is and how much potential one life holds.
For some reason I was thinking of my niece the other day and her heading off to college this fall and wondering what she’ll end up doing with her life when it really clicked with me that this life truly is a gift. My existence is a gift, and just as the talents given in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25 were to be invested and used wisely, so is my life. What will I do with my gift? When I reflect on my time here at the end of my days, what do I hope to see? As my story unfolds, who will my life impact and in what ways will it impact them?
Will we take our lives into our own hands or seek out the Father’s wisdom and guidance and give the gift He’s given us back to Him to protect, make strong and use?
It brings to my mind a father giving a child a gift that needs assembly and is beyond the child’s years of understanding how to assemble or even properly use the assembled gift. If the child were to refuse to let the father build it and instead try to assemble it on his own, months later the gift will probably still be little pieces scattered about the house or at best somewhat put together but not at all in such a way so that it can be used for its original purpose.
The gift of life — for some reason it’s just taken on a deeper meaning for me.
Topics: Devotional, Goals, Random Ramblings | 1 Comment »
Quoting Scripture Banned at Ohio Library
By Jennifer McClure | June 13, 2008
Recently, Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a complaint against a county library in Ohio for not allowing a couple to reserve a community room for a financial seminar because they planned to quote the Bible. (Read more about this story at the Alliance Defense Fund Web site or here.)
At the heart of the matter is the argument that this ban is unconstitutional.
“Any government policy denying equal access rights to a group simply because it intends on quoting Bible verses does not comport with the Constitution,” says ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “This is a financial planning seminar, and the library has previously allowed meetings that discuss financial planning. The fact that they may quote Bible verses during the meeting does not legally matter.”
But beyond the legal questions lie some that I cannot ignore: If such a ban is allowed to stand, what’s next? Why target the Christian faith? Why target the quoting of only one sacred book rather than all sacred books? Why, in a culture preaching tolerance, are the Christian faith and its holy book not tolerated?
Granted I have my own viewpoints concerning the answers to these questions, but that would give way to much discussion, now would it? If you haven’t given thought to such questions you should. And if you have, the topics are open for discussion thanks to the comments section.
(To read more about Christians taking legal action, check out the TPE news feature “Christians in Court: It often takes legal help for religious liberties to prevail.”)
Topics: News | No Comments »
Facing Jesus’ Claims of Divinity
By Jennifer McClure | May 30, 2008
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Jesus declared His divinity to the Jews of His day. Actually, I’d rather be something that was not so nasty. I guess being invisible would work. Anyway, I was reading in the Gospel of John earlier this week, and by the end of chapter 8, I found myself cheering for Jesus, pumped up for how directly he answered the Jews’ questions of who He claimed to be.
“ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ ” (John 8:58, NIV)
In my American mind, He doesn’t appear to have said, “I’m the Messiah. I’m the Son of God. I am God.” But the people He was speaking to that day knew what He meant. I believe they would have immediately associated His statement of “I am” with what God told Moses in Exodus 3:14.
Moses had asked God who he should tell the people it was that sent him. God replied, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” That Jesus’ statement would clearly connect to Exodus 3:14 offers a sound explanation as to why the crowd “picked up stones to stone Him” once Jesus said “I am.” They viewed His statement as claiming to be God, which was a crime punishable by death.
To Jesus’ audience, His statements were clearly claims of divinity. In that chapter alone, Jesus makes the following statements: “I am the light of the world (John 8:12). “I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me” (John 8:16). “I am from above. … I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father” (John 8:49). “My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54).
Jesus proclaims himself as the Son of God made in verse 54 and as equal with God in verse 58. If Jesus was a good teacher, why would He make such claims and teach such things as, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12) if they weren’t true?
Topics: Devotional | No Comments »
Woman lives after being dead 17 hours
By Jennifer McClure | May 24, 2008
Here’s another ray of sunshine. Check it out here.
Topics: News | 1 Comment »
Pilots reminded “Jesus is Lord” in emergency landing
By Jennifer McClure | May 23, 2008
With stories of violence, natural disasters, accidental tragedies and economic woes filling the news, this story is like a welcome ray of sunshine during a week of incessant rain. Sunday, the engines on a plane piloted by Owen Wilson and Grant Stubbs in New Zealand sputtered and died mid-flight. The two prayed to get over the approaching ridge and find a safe place to land place. Both prayers were answered, and once safely on the ground, the two noticed a friendly reminder next to the grassy strip: “Jesus is Lord — The Bible.” Read the story here.
Topics: News | No Comments »
Prince Caspian: Memories fade
By Jennifer McClure | May 15, 2008
At midnight tonight the highly anticipated cinematic depiction (or interpretation) of the C.S. Lewis classic Prince Caspian will be showing on theater screens nationwide. Having read The Chronicles of Narnia as a child, I remember treasuring the series and appreciating the Christian undertones. Though for the most part I can no longer recall the details of the stories, I remember the emotions they evoked.
I remember the affection and respectful awe the name “Aslan” inspired, the excitement of stepping into a different world and the anticipation of seeing how Aslan would come through in the end. I could make spiritual applications for all three of those points, but I’ll leave that to you.
Topics: Random Ramblings | No Comments »
Appointed to break down
By Jennifer McClure | May 5, 2008
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his step” (Proverbs 16:9, NIV). Or in my case, where my car would break down.
For me, one of the greatest rewards of being a Christian has been the silent way God has placed my steps or opened doors for me to walk through that I didn’t even know were there. It is so exciting to have the reassurance that God has a plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). But it’s really cool when you’re a senior in college, about to graduate with a degree in print journalism, and your car breaks down in front of a magazine senior associate editor’s house.
In a nutshell, that’s my story. It was early May a few years ago when the clutch on my white, two-door, 1992 Nissan Sentra went out in 5 o’clock traffic as I approached a very busy intersection. Managing to get the car back in first gear when the car was turned off, I got through the intersection and began meandering through the nearest neighborhood. And some may say “coincidentally” I stopped my car right in front of Kirk Noonan’s home. That connection led to freelance writing for TPE and eventually my current position as assistant editor at TPE.
Jeremiah wrote: “I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps,” (Jeremiah 10:23). How true that has been in my life and how very grateful I am for it. Who better to direct my steps, to plan my life, than the Lord of lords and King of kings? He who is good, who is love, who is just, who is faithful and true. The stability found in trusting God I believe is foundational to experiencing peace and joy.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 15:13).
Topics: Devotional | 2 Comments »
Doing hard things for God
By Jennifer McClure | April 21, 2008
Last week my husband hit the quarter of a century mark. Though I still have a few more months before bidding farewell to my early 20s, all this talk of being half way to 50 has inspired some reflection on my youth.
It’s humorous to me when I hear myself coming to realizations that are almost verbatim to what a youth pastor or leader had told me when in youth group. One such realization was that as a student you have easy access to one of the greatest mission fields. That thought held true for college, but now married and in a Christian work environment, the opportunities to share God’s love through relationships with those who do not know Him are not as abundant as they once were.
So for those Christians reading this who are in a season where those opportunities to be a testimony of God’s love and saving grace are in abundance, be thankful and prepared to share because you never know when your scenery will change. And for me and others in similar situations, it’s all about being intentional in witnessing and dependent on prayer.
Interested in finding out more of what it means to serve God? Be sure to check out this week’s TPE, which is our annual Teen Edition, and don’t forget to download a free Jessie Daniels MP3 at tpe.ag.org.
Topics: Devotional | 1 Comment »
Human Suffering: How Can a Compassionate God Allow It?
By Jennifer McClure | April 12, 2008
This is in response to EJ’s comment on the April 9 post. There is no short, easy, exhaustive response to this question, and by no means do I claim to fully understand this. But I’d like to share some ideas I’ve encountered while trying to understand this issue.
1. God’s original design for life, for creation, did not include suffering. Adam, Eve and creation were perfect when first created. Then through Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey the one command God gave them, death and sickness entered the world, breaking perfection and causing separation between God and mankind.
Topics: Random Ramblings | 1 Comment »
